About six months ago, I signed up for ImageBrief at the Explorer level. After submitting over 125 photos for over 30 briefs without any success, I want know if anyone has actually sold one of their photos through ImageBrief?
If you’re not familiar with ImageBrief, they allow ad agencies, publishing companies and brands to post a brief requesting an image. Photographers are able to respond to the brief by submitting images through the website, and depending on their level of enrollment, they keep 70-100% of the payment for the image. That amount is much better than the typical stock agency.
Premier members can also post their images for sale and submit themselves for jobs. And they get to keep everything they earn. It sounds great, but like all good sites, there is a lot of stiff competition. On a slow day, maybe 3 to 5 briefs are added. Some days, as many as 20 are added. Many briefs cover popular subjects and get hundreds of images submitted. But what actually happens with all those images?
With all the briefs to which I’ve submitted images, I’ve only seen four actually get awarded. Even with all the images I’ve submitted, I’ve never even been shortlisted once. I follow all the briefs to which I submit, and most just fade away into oblivion without so much as a status update to tell me what became of the image request. After a few months, some eventually are closed without any image selected. So it begs the question, has anyone ever actually sold an image through this service? At what membership level did this occur?
I get emails frequently trying to entice me to upgrade from my free membership, where I get to keep 70% of the awarded amount of the briefs, to a premier member, who gets to keep 100% of the awarded brief. Of course, they try to tell you that these premier members get job offers and are making money, but a half-dozen testimonials doesn’t convince me that this actually works for the little guy, like me. And at $60 per month or $500 per year, it’s an expensive investment without any guaranteed return. However, if I actually got awarded and paid for an image, I wouldn’t be as hesitant to upgrade.
Are you out on ImageBrief? What has your experience been? Do you think it’s worth your time and money?
Oh, and by the way, here’s my ImageBrief profile.
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